i68 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 



123 



tuan }{ung named Chang in a big fortified 

 place. They asked the tuan f^^ttng and he said, 

 "Of course when children are tiny they may 

 eat their mothers (drink their milk). When 

 you have grown up, isn't it right for you to 

 find food for your mother to eat? If you thus 

 nourish your mother, it does not mean that 

 she eats you. I render the decision that you 

 ought to be eaten by your mother." 



The two boys would not heed the tuan 

 \ung's advice, so Chang Tuan Kung scolded 

 them loudly. One of them was afraid and 

 so he crawled into Chang Tuan Kung's bottle, 

 and the tuan kjung bottled him up securely. 

 The other escaped and scolded as he walked 

 along. He said, "You Miao, Mr. Chang, 

 within three years you will die at my hands." 

 But that demon's son ran to the emperor's 

 capital city and secredy ate the queen. Then 

 he pretended to be the queen. Not long 

 afterward he pretended to be sick. 



Then the emperor asked her, "What medi- 

 cine do you want to eat.?" She said, "Unless 

 I eat the heart of the Miao Chang Tuan 

 Kung, I shall soon die." Then the emperor 

 sent runners and soldiers to take Chang Tuan 

 Kung. 



One day they seized die tuan \ung. Sud- 

 denly the runners took him and led him 

 halfway along the road. Then the soldiers 

 took him and bound him. He slept until 

 midnight, and suddenly an eel spook (or de- 

 mon) came and called for them to open the 

 door. He was prevented from entering by 

 the latch on the inside. The latch then said, 

 "Tonight you must not come. I have guests 

 here." Then the eel spook became angry and 

 said, "Aren't you going to open the door for 

 me? You are only a door latch." The door 

 latch then scolded him and said, "You are a 

 big eel from the puddle our water buffaloes 

 wallow in outside our door (a filthy pool). 

 I'll make it impossible for you to live." 



Chang Tuan Kung heard this very clearly. 

 Next morning he arose and saw that in that 

 family there was a sick person lying on the 

 bed. The family asked him to investigate and 

 control the sickness. Then he called his gods 

 to help, and sent a ma gioh to bring the eel 

 from the pool the water buffaloes wallowed 

 in. He cut it open and cooked it, and gave 

 it to the sick person to eat, and the illness 

 was cured. The family brought gold and 

 silver to express their thanks, but he did not 

 want it. He wanted only the latch on the 

 door, which the family gave him. 



He took the latch and carried it along the 

 road. He saw where an eel and ants had 

 died. He drew a line around then with the 



door latch, and the dead things all came 

 to life. 



That day, when he was just about to enter 

 the palace, the empress cried out loudly say- 

 ing, "I want to eat Chang Tuan Kung; I 

 want to eat Chang Tuan Kung." The people 

 in the palace were going to kill him. Then 

 the ttian ^ung said, "If you want to kill me, 

 you may. But I must see the queen, and then 

 I shall be glad to die." Then they took him 

 into the palace. Then Chang Tuan Kung 

 pointed the door latch at the queen and 

 shouted, and then the demon went into the 

 bottle. Then he said to the emperor, "This 

 is not the queen. It is a demon. The queen 

 was eaten by a demon. He took the em- 

 press's bones and buried them in a deep pit 

 in the garden." 



They went into the garden and saw there 

 a heap of white bones. Then the emperor 

 asked him, "Since you have such great abil- 

 ity, can the empress be cured again?" He 

 replied, "Yes, she can be cured, but it will 

 take several days to restore her because she 

 has no flesh." 



Every day he took the door latch and 

 pointed it at the dry bones. Before long the 

 queen was restored to life again, and she was 

 the wife of the emperor as before. 



When the emperor saw that the tuan k.ung 

 was a Miao he asked him how he had such 

 great ability. He then wanted to test him 

 again. He therefore said, "I have a mule that 

 has been dead three or four years. Can you 

 bring it back to life. The tuan f(^ung said, 

 "It can be done." So he took his door latch 

 and pointed it at the bones, and the mule 

 came back to life again. 



When the emperor saw that he had such 

 great ability he secretly hated him. One day 

 the emperor asked him, "What thing on earth 

 is best to eat?" He answered, "Without salt 

 nothing else has a good flavor." The em- 

 peror said, "These precious things of ours are 

 all no good? How can you say salt is good? 

 You are truly deceiving me. If I leave you 

 on earth, how can it be otherwise than that 

 you, a Miao, will rebel?" Then he ordered 

 his soldiers to kill him so that he would not 

 do injury to the world. They immediately 

 killed him. 



Next morning the emperor said to the cook, 

 "This morning, when you put in food, do 

 not put in salt." Then all the workers said, 

 "If we do not put in salt, it will really not 

 be good to eat." Then the emperor knew that 

 he should not kill sincere Miao people. So 

 every year he left his throne empty thirty 



